<p>Freshman year in PS was rocky all year. My DS hated PS the classes were slow paced, crowded, violence and drug use at the school made him feel unsafe. He made some friends but hated school.
He asked me to homes school and I have my families support.<br>
My fear is that I will hurt his chances of getting into a good college. I have spent countless hours on the internet researching and feel overwhelmed with the curriculum choices.
What worked for you? How do you make a lesson plan that covers the material?
I would like to have a guide or list of daily/weekly lessons for my son to follow to make sure he is covering what is needed.
I would like to prepare him for the PSAT and have him take his first AP class/test, how do I know he is ready?
How do I find out if he has gaps in his learning? He has always done well on standardized tests, teranova's etc.
What has worked for you?
We currently live in NC but it seems we will be moving soon, my hubby is retiring from the military looking for a new career.</p>
<p>Thank you
Kelli</p>
<p>Sorry I don’t have any specific advice, but I just wanted to say I’ve known several families who have home schooled very successfully. The kids I’ve known turned out great - smart, self motivated, happy, comfortable talking to adults, and they’ve usually taken at least one interest pretty far. I think colleges really like home schooled kids. The one I know who did it all the way through high school ended up with a full tuition scholarship to a good private research university. I don’t know them well but his mom mentioned spending a lot of time documenting what he had done - she spent his senior year really getting things summed up and sent a big thick packet to colleges.</p>
<p>And as far as math goes, I love the Art of Problem Solving. It goes through PreCalc I think and also has a lot of number theory, probability, and contest math stuff that high schools don’t cover.</p>
<p>Good luck - my heart goes out to any kid who is finding school intolerable. My oldest had that problem in junior high - I pulled him out and homeschooled for one year than found a different high school. If your son stays where it’s “slow paced, crowded, violence and drug use,” it’s very likely he will spend more time learning survival skills than getting an education, and that will hurt his colleges chances too. If my kid were afraid to go to school I’d do anything I could to relieve that. </p>
<p>Good luck to you! And there are tons of homeschool forums, etc. And if you’re moving do some research about homeschool laws in different states - they vary widely and some are ridiculously easy (in Indiana, the only rule is you have to have school 180 days - they don’t say how long the school day is or what you need to cover during the day or during the year) and some make you jump through way more hoops. Here’s an informative website: [Homeschool:</a> HSLDA-Home School Legal Defense Association](<a href=“http://www.hslda.org/]Homeschool:”>http://www.hslda.org/)</p>
<p>I agree with Pinot Noir - and lots of families homeschool now so colleges are used to seeing those types of transcripts and often even have a tab on their college page for hs students. We have tons of hs kids around here (for all the reasons you cite) and many also use the local community college which has programs specifically for high school students.</p>
<p>We live in a subpar school district and have had really good success with our oldest two via homeschooling. Oldest homeschooled grades 9-12. Middle has homeschooled grades 7-12. Middle has done better than oldest, but both have been in the upper 90 percentiles on the ACT (97% and 99% respectively). Oldest got nice aid for college. We’re expecting even better for middle son as we’re sticking with schools who offer merit aid.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, my youngest wants to be at the high school and started back in 9th grade. After 8th grade he was testing in the 99th percentile… I’m afraid he’s slipping at the high school. We’re having to supplement his education in order to try to get reasonable stats. If there weren’t other issues involved he’d be out of there.</p>
<p>I’ll send you a pm.</p>
<p>If you have done so much research, then you’ve probably read many articles that note how well homeschoolers do in college. In general, they have no trouble getting into college at all. What you could do is call the admissions office of a few colleges that your child might consider and ask about admission for homeschoolers. This will tell you exactly what you need to know. </p>
<p>FYI, my kids who were homeschooled all the way had no difficulty getting into the colleges they applied to (and received some nice scholarships also).</p>
<p>
Half community college, half unschooling
What material really needs to be covered? Are you aiming for the SAT II or AP? If so, then you could look at a study guide for that test. If you just want “a year of US history”, you have a lot more flexibility and can choose whatever interests him.
Most people I know (including myself) who have homeschooled have started fairly regimented and specific, as you are writing about, but then lightened up later. My theory is that there are 5000 things to learn about US History, and you only have time for 100 of them. Who’s to say which 100 are the right ones, assuming he can name which half-century each war is in? :D</p>